It’s a small world after all as the Pitt-Bradford softball team
swept a Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference doubleheader from
Penn State Behrend, 5-1 and 5-4, on Wednesday.

The Lady Panthers’ contingent will own bragging rights at their
five-year reunions after two pairs of former high school teammates
went head-to-head on the sun-splashed Kessel Field diamond.

Pitt-Bradford’s Sarah Angeletti won round one with Bethel Park
High School teammate Brooke Tarasovich as the Lady Panther freshman
was the winning pitcher and also smacked a two-run homer off
Tarasovich in the first game.

Last year’s co-aces at Bethel Park were exchanging bullets
through the first three innings as Angeletti only allowed one
runner on base via an error, and Tarasovich had relinquished just
two singles.

Then in the bottom of the fourth, Lauren Weaver singled and
Angeletti launched her fifth bomb of the season over the left field
fence.

“She (Angeletti) has been swinging a hot bat,” said
Pitt-Bradford head coach Tina Phillips of the reigning AMCC Pitcher
of the Week. “She didn’t hit at all in Florida and changed her
hands, and now she’s ready to go.”

Megan Clyde and Jamie Winzeler followed with base hits, and then
Alyssa Borkowski ended Tarasovich’s day with a two-run single for a
4-0 advantage.

The Lady Panthers then added a run in the fifth on singles by
Erin Fieldhouse and Angeletti, and an infield error.

Behrend finally scored in the sixth on an RBI double by Amy
Greene.

Angeletti scattered three hits, fanned seven and walked none.
She was also 3-for-3 at the dish, and Borkowski and Winzeler were
2-for-3 for Pitt-Bradford.

It was a Smethport duo banging heads in the second game as
sophomore Emma Hahn took the hill for Behrend while sophomore
Lauren Kinniburgh, who was Hahn’s catcher in high school, started
in center field for the hosts.

Hahn and Pitt-Bradford’s Jillian Kreitzer were scoreless mound
opponents going into the bottom third, but that changed when the
Lady Panthers loaded the sacks on a base hit by Kristina Brinkel
and two walks.

And, with a slap of irony that could be felt 20 miles away at
the McKean County Seat, Kinniburgh ripped a 3-2 offering over the
left field barrier for a grand slam and a 4-0 lead.

“That was a great at-bat,” Phillips recalled. “She (Kinniburgh)
battled her way to a full count, and when she gets her arms
extended, she is nasty.”

The Lady Lions answered with three runs in the fourth on three
consecutive singles and then a sacrifice fly from Brittany Simpson
off Kreitzer, and a two-run single by Beth Chidester off
Angeletti.

After Behrend (6-8, 0-4) tied the contest at four-all in the
fifth on a solo shot by Morgan Griffin, it was still even in the
bottom of the seventh when Weaver doubled and Kinniburgh was wisely
intentionally walked.

After Fieldhouse singled to center and Weaver was erased on a
close play at the plate, Angeletti looped a base hit into shallow
leftcenter, and Kinniburgh easily scored the game-winner.

“She (Angeletti) got enough fist on it,” Phillips stated. “She
is just so strong. She bailed me out after I sent in Lauryn
(Weaver).”

Angeletti (4-3) was the winner in relief as the Lady Panthers
improved to 4-0 in the AMCC and 7-7 overall.

“That’s the first time they (high school teammates) had faced
each other,” Phillips noted. “I’m glad I have the two I have.

“It’s nice to be 4-0,” Phillips concluded. “We circled two dates
on our calendar — Behrend and Greensburg.”